Beyond This Illusion
by Snuffles-sweetie
Summary: Sequel to In a World of Fragile Things. Bailey and the boys are back, more bloodthirsty, more vicious and closer together then ever. But the appearance of The Emerson's,relatives Bailey has no memory of,threatens their gore-filled idyll.Rating may change
1. Strange and Beautiful

**An: **Here is the sequel to In A World of Fragile Things. It will happen during the movie and possibly beyond, not sure yet. Suggestions are very welcome.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Lost Boys. Bailey and parts of this plot is products of my brain though.

* * *

**Beyond This Illusion.**

**By Snuffles-sweetie**

Bailey and the boys are back, more bloodthirsty, more vicious and closer together then ever. But the appearance of The Emerson's, relatives Bailey has no memory of, threatens their gore filled idyll.

**Chapter 1-Prologue**

**Strange and Beautiful**

_I've been watching your world from afar,  
I've been trying to be where you are,  
And I've been secretly falling apart,  
I'll see.  
To me, you're strange and you're beautiful,  
You'd be so perfect with me but you just can't see,  
You turn every head but you don't see me._

_-Aqualung-_

Shadows lurking everywhere, the moon was the only light source. The young mans breathing was laboured as he speed walked along the streets. He didn't like this place at all, abandoned buildings surrounded him and nothing could be heard except his own breathing and heavy steps hitting the pavement. He didn't know what exactly made him so uneasy, he walked these streets every night but tonight was different. He thought he could feel someone's eyes boring into his back. He turned a corner and the feeling disappeared, he could breathe more easily and a strange calm settled over him. He started walking again but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a figure standing at the end of the road. Her hair was blonde, her skin pale, eyes brown and her lips were set in a seductive, yet feral smirk. He had seen her around, of course, who hadn't? She was the girl that hung around the Lost Boys, many girls and guys had been struck by jealousy and surprise when they saw her sucking face with the twisted sister look-a-like in the gang. Not many were _privileged_; he almost scoffed out loud at his own thought, enough to hang out with the well known bikers. So imagine his, and everyone else's, surprise when out of nowhere this girl appears. Just as pale and –he paused in his thoughts, and what, beautiful as the rest of them? Because beautiful was the perfect word to describe the gang. They were strange, yes, dangerous, if the rumours that went around were true, definitely, sexy, good god yes, and beautiful.

James, that was his name, didn't even know what any of the young rebels without cause's names but they had always fascinated him. He had always observed them even before she entered the gang. After that he watched them even more. The graceful way they moved and the primal smirks they gave their onlookers. The way they seemed to hide something, like they knew something no one around them did. But the girl held his attention even more; she was after all; unreachable. He had always wanted to talk to her, know her. Understand what hid behind those brown eyes, that devilish smirk. And here it was; his chance. She was finally alone.

Her heavy biker boots made little sound as she moved towards him, almost gliding forward, her hips swaying in a catlike motion. She was feral, primitive…dangerous. Cold sweat began to trickle along the young mans forehead, a sense of danger settled over him. The primal instinct to run away, flee was almost unbearable. But at the same time this strange sense of longing –this _want_ to be close to her began somewhere at the bottom of his stomach. He stood stock still, unable to move, as she sashayed right up to him. He could feel the heat from her body as she stepped close to him, brown eyes searching his. He gulped and licked his suddenly dry lips. She turned her head and breathed onto his neck, shivers went down his spine. His mouth opened once –twice but no sound came out. This strange mix of smells entered his mind as he took a deep breath. She smelled of motor oil, pot smoke, the sea and some rusty smell that he couldn't identify.

"I've seen you," her voice was smooth, seductive as she spoke and paused, an act he was painfully aware of that she acted upon just for the dramatic effect it created. His breath hitched as she exhaled on his neck again.

"…Watching us," spoken in a lower tone and yet again accompanied with a dramatic pause.

"…Watching –me," the last word was barely heard, simply breathed out in-between those full lips.

"Why is that?" The question was asked so casually that his mind couldn't quite comprehend it at first. His head was heavy with her scent, her eyes, and her whole presence. Full lips twitched as he took a shaky breath, prepared himself to speak.

"You're beautiful," he breathed out and winched mentally at the pathetic sound of his own voice. The girl smirked and then the most chilling sound erupted from her throat. She laughed, a chilling, cold and yet bell-like laugh.

"Yes I am." He recoiled at her un-modest answer. She smirked at his amazement.

"But you've been doing more then watching lately, haven't you?" Yet another chill went down his spine and eyes widened at the cold tone her voice had adapted. Her eyes were no longer warm and amused, they were cold and calculating, questioning –worried. She couldn't know, could she? How could she know that he had followed them to that cliff, where they seemingly disappeared? That he had figured out that they only entered the colourful boardwalk at night, did she know that he knew that something wasn't right with them. He had his suspicions, but he couldn't voice them, not now.

"What," he swallowed in a vain attempt to moisture his parched throat.

"What do you mean?" He couldn't look her in the eye so he turned his head away and waited. A cold hand grabbed his chin and turned it back, brown eyes met green.

"You know exactly what I mean _James_," her lips moved slowly as she spoke, her voice was warmer, more seductive again. The sound of his name coming from that mouth was euphoria. He couldn't breathe and her smirk widened. She stepped closer again and her scent overwhelmed him.

"You've been following us James. We don't like that." He stared at her in awe as she lightly dragged her finger along his chest. His heartbeat sped up as her cold hand closed around his left wrist. He watched, captivated, as she slowly lifted the wrist to her face. She nuzzled it with her face and then kissed it lightly. James thought that he was about to faint never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined this. The strange and beautiful woman was kissing his wrist seductively, her eyes never leaving his. That's why he saw the look in them change they were suddenly no longer brown but a reddish-yellow. He tried to draw back but she was _so_ strong.

"We don't like being followed James," she spoke quietly a feral smirk lit up her pale features. Her lips descended upon his wrist again and an indescribable pain erupted through his arm. His screams of pain echoed in the abandoned alley, the sound bouncing against the walls of the old warehouses. The line; _in space no one can hear you scream_, went through his head for some unfathomable reason. She let go suddenly and he fell to the ground clutching his now bleeding arm. He stared at the wound and looked up in fear. The woman was smirking proudly, eyes glinting as she licked her now blood coated lips. James felt sick. Laughter suddenly broke the silence that had settled between them but neither of them was the amused culprit. Out of nowhere the twisted sister appeared next to the woman, smirk on his lips and joint in hand. James watched on in horror as the man grabbed her chin harshly and turned her head towards him. The look in his eyes was unmistakably pure and unadulterated lust. What happened next made the man on the ground want to heave, he watched with morbid fascination, unable to tear his eyes off them, as the blond biker male licked the blood, James' blood, off the female biker's cheek. His eyes widened and his lips curled in disgust as he watched the man kiss, lick and suck her mouth clean. When he was done he withdrew, a satisfied look on his face and a growl rumbled in his chest.

"Easy Paul," the drawling voice spooked the bleeding man and he jumped slightly. His eyes found the amused green ones of the angelic one. That was what he had named the short boy –man in his head. The one with the grin that could make the Cheshire Cat jealous, whose eyes held a wisdom and fierceness he couldn't understand.

"Yes we have matters to attend to," a darker, smoother voice spoke this time. The dark one, the one who looked stoic and never seemed to wear a shirt now stood on the other side of the woman. His dark eyes settled on the form on the ground but his face held no emotion. James felt trapped, here he was; injured on the ground with almost all the strange bikers surrounding him-

"Playing with your food again Bailey?" –scratch that, all of them surrounding him. The cold, smooth and seductive voice could only belong to one person; the peroxide blond with the ice cold eyes that seemed to be their leader. Fear racked his body accompanied by the now numb ache in his left arm as he looked around. He was surrounded by the very gang he had been observing for months. The young woman he had proclaimed beautiful earlier looked even more so in that very moment. Even as fear made his heart beat erratically in his chest he was floored by the perhaps slightly morbid beauty of the group in front of him. The moon hit their too pale skin and made it glow slightly, their observant eyes were fixed on him and their full lips were set in smirks.

"What are you?" The words left his mouth before he could stop them. He had his suspicions before but at that moment he knew, these were no normal bikers. There was something supernatural about them. The chilling chuckle that erupted from the peroxide blond leaders' throat made him shiver and look down at his bleeding wrist again.

"We're your worst nightmare," softly said with such malice laced with the words that James head snapped up. The scream of raw terror caught in his throat at the sight that met his unbelieving eyes. No longer were they morbidly beautiful youngsters they had changed –transformed into a group of monsters. Faces disfigured, eyes glowing with a reddish-yellow tint and fangs sparkling in the moonlight as they laughed darkly at his pathetically choking form.

"You really shouldn't have followed us James. You just got to close to the truth and now you have to pay," she said this without even an ounce of pity in her voice.

"Well you know what they say; _Curiosity killed the __**cat**_," the angelic man-boy said through what sounded like barely sustained chuckles, that cat-like smirk never leaving the now dangerous looking face. James watched as they all stepped closer.

"No please…I –I," his voice broke as sobs of fear racked his body.

"Ugh, I hate it when they weep," the dark one was the one that had spoken, a sneer twisting his lips. The man on the ground bowed his head again tears hitting the concrete as his body convulsed and he dry heaved. A cold hand touched his chin and he was soon face to face with the transformed version of the woman. The beauty had become the beast and now she was staring him right in the face.

"Goodbye James," she said her voice soft and chuckles sounded from behind her. Death stared him in the face, death was merciful, and death was better then staying on this hell on earth surrounded by the devils' little helpers. _Vampires_, the single word was the last clear thought that entered James distraught mind before he felt several pairs of fangs pierce his skin. His tortured screams were soon silenced and pain took over his body, then peace clouded his mind. The only thing that could be heard was dark chuckles and the distant, vibrating music from the boardwalk.


	2. Wild Boys

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the lost boys or parts of this plot.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Wild Boys**

_The wild boys are calling  
On their way back from the fire  
In august moon's surrender to  
A dust cloud on the rise  
Wild boys fallen far from glory  
Reckless and so hungered  
On the razors edge you trail  
Because there's murder by the roadside  
In a sore afraid new world_

_They tried to break us,  
Looks like they'll try again_

_Wild boys never lose it  
Wild boys never chose this way  
Wild boys never close your eyes  
Wild boys always shine_

_-Duran Duran-_

Paul told me to wait for him as he went into Sonny's and grabbed us a case of beer. The guys wanted to have a "mortal night" and drink a couple of beers down by the beach. But my mind wasn't in it. My aunt Lucy and her sons were in town apparently, Jack had told me earlier that night. I wasn't sure what to do about that, I couldn't for the life of me remember an Aunt Lucy or the fact that the woman had kids. What if I ran into them and didn't recognize them? David told me not to worry about it, apparently Max had contacted him about something more important, and it worried him. The boys and I could sense his worry, his unease. Whatever bomb Max had dropped on him, well it had to be big to make our fearless leader worry.

This was actually the reason we were having a "mortal night". Star never participated in these and David didn't want her to know of the head vampire's plan. He knew that we would be able to talk in peace tonight.

**~o~o~o~**

A fire was burning slowly on the beach as Paul and I approached it. Dwayne was sitting on one of the logs, the fire being reflected in his dark eyes. Marko was throwing more wood into the fire, humming to himself. I didn't recognize the tune but it was the same one the band was playing on the boardwalk. I didn't see David at first but then I spotted him, standing near the ocean. He was so still it looked unnatural, the moon made him look paler and almost angelic. The boy we killed a week ago, James, had called us angels in his mind more than once. Angels of the night, but right before his doom he named us the devils little helpers. I didn't know which _endearment_ was more appropriate.

Dwayne, Marko, Paul and I seated ourselves comfortably around the fire and turned our heads to look at David's back. None of us spoke; we were waiting for whatever David wanted to tell us. He turned around sharply, the black trench coat swinging back like a cape as he turned. He observed us quietly for a moment before he strode towards us and sat down on a lone log.

"Max has given us an –uh, _mission_," he said quietly. It was strange to hear that silky voice stutter slightly as he tried to find the right words. I watched as Dwayne's face darkened and Marko's smirk seemed to falter. Paul looked just as confused as I felt.

"What kind of mission?" Paul uttered the question that was on everyone mind. David hesitated, I had never seen him hesitate before and that worried me.

"He has found a woman. A woman he wishes to turn." That's it? I couldn't really understand the problem with that and what did it have to do with us?

"I knew it," my dark haired brother hissed out like he was in pain. The sombre look on my brothers' faces worried me, what was so bad about Max wanting and having found a possible mate? I mean they didn't have that much of a problem with turning me. Before the youngest two of us could ask ay further questions David held up a silencing hand.

"Max is known for choosing women that can't handle our lifestyle. And he always comes up with some plot that involves us to help him convince his chosen victim. It never works. The first one I remember him wanting to turn was Elisabeth, my mother," he paused and looked at us with a strange look in his eyes. Suddenly the beach and the bonfire disappeared and images flickered before my mind.

**Enter Flashback.**

_A blonde woman, with eyes just like David's was standing on a porch looking into the darkness. Her__ eyes turned towards me, but I knew, somewhere deep inside of me that I was in someone else's body. Seeing and reliving the past, through their eyes. The blue eyed woman smiled at me sadly and opened her mouth and said;_

"_David, do you remember Maxwell?" That simple line and the thoughts that unintentionally entered my mind proved my thoughts correct. Pictures of a tall lanky man with dark hair, a kind smile but a strange look in his eyes flickered through my eyes. It was Max, with a different haircut and no glasses, dressed in what seemed to be __early 20__th__ century looking clothes. David was that old? Suddenly the view changed and I was standing next to the pair like an innocent, invisible bystander._

"_Yes of course mother," the young man answered with a confused smile on his face. Why was his mother so reluctant to talk about the nice man that had become a father figure to him? __His own father was a right bastard that didn't give a damn. But out of nowhere Maxwell Bloom had showed up in their little town and taken the townspeople by storm. Everybody liked him, especially David's mother, Elisabeth. _

_David had watched as Maxwell slowly, but surely, weaselled himself into his mothers life and heart. But he didn't mind at all. He liked Maxwell, he took him fishing, he listened to him and showed him a lot of new things, things his father never took time to do. It was actually the fact that he was so good with young David that his mother fell for the dark newcomer in the first place. He paid attention to both her and her son like her husband never had. _

_So why was his mother looking so sad?_

"_Maxwell…he's not what we thought he was. Nothing you think he is," she spoke quietly, tiredly. It was only now that David noticed how tired his mother looked, how much paler she had become._

"_What do you mean mother?" Her eyes were sad when she gazed at him but they widened suddenly and with a push and a harsh whisper she told him to hide behind some barrels. David was confused but did as he was told. He watched on in confusion as the topic of their conversation appeared next to his mother. Why did she want David to hide from Maxwell? He watched as the man stepped closer to Elisabeth, saying something to her that David couldn't hear. His mother shook her head and said;_

"_Never, I'll never be like you, you're a monster." Hate, the emotion was clear as a day on the woman's face as she snapped at the tall man next to her. A chill went down the young mans spine as he saw Maxwell's usually smiling face transform into a scowling, angry one. He whispered something David couldn't hear but __the edgy look on his face didn't bode well. Before he realized what really happened, Maxwell's face was transformed and his mother was screaming. Blood was being shed everywhere, his mother's screams echoed in the night. He let out a shocked gasp and stumbled back. The man…the monster turned towards him and David let out a terrified gasp. He watched as the man he thought he knew, the man that killed his mother walked closer to him. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, and he didn't know what to do. A cold, clammy hand wrapped itself around his forearm. Dark eyes met icy blue._

"_Join me David…son." A sharp pain in his neck and then…nothing._

**End of Flashback.**

I looked at David with a shocked expression on my face.

"Max killed your mom," I said quietly. My eyes travelled to Paul who looked just as clueless as I did, the others looked grim though.

"Yeah. Max actually showed me that. I could barely remember the details after I became a full vampire." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dwayne reach for a bottle and throw it to David, blood. He nodded gratefully and took a long swig. He shook his head and closed his eyes for a second.

"But she didn't want to join him. But after she –died, he saw what he wanted from her in me. The lack of fear of death, the frustration about my mortal life, he saw everything. So he changed me." I listened carefully as the peroxide blond spoke. He seemed to have come to terms with all of it.

"So instead of a mate he got a son," I said quietly, trying to understand. David nodded with a small smirk playing on his lips.

"And history would repeat itself as it were," Dwayne spoke this time, his eyes darker then before and his jaw set.

"What do you mean bud?" Paul questioned, curiosity shining in his blue eyes.

"Max found another woman a few years later. A woman that happened to belong to the same tribe as Dwayne. Long story short it didn't work out and we found Dwayne instead," David spoke quietly, quickly. My eyes were locked on the darker, brooding vampire. Something about that story still pained him, strangely enough. None of us decided to press it. Marko's eyes told me that he knew the story, Paul too…I was curious, of course, but I knew that Dwayne would tell me…eventually.

"Then he met a woman that lived near Marko's little band of thieves," David grinned this time, his voice took a teasing tone. Marko scowled and huffed at him. It was a common joke amongst us, we all knew of Marko's mortal days. He had been a pick pocket on the streets of Chicago, something we all found amusing. His story reminded the rest of us of the tale of Oliver Twist something Marko didn't like, imagine being a strong, immortal vampire and have your friends call you Oliver Twist. I had never heard of a woman though.

"I didn't even know her but apparently Max took a likening to her," Marko said with a noncommittal shrug. I was beginning to see a pattern here and so was Paul, who was almost as clueless as me about all this.

"But when Max's rendezvous with the hippie lady didn't work out David spotted me and well you can guess the rest of it," Marko continued with a small smirk.

"And then came _Caroline_," David spat out the name like it was acid, corroding his tongue.

"Who's that?" I said, curious about the woman that caused David to turn sour again.

"Max's last _attempt _for a mate," Dwayne said, empathising the word; attempt.

"We arrived at a town much alike this one. Lots of surfers crowded the place and then in this really shitty part of town Max found her," David took a drag from his cigarette and scowled.

"Completely out of it she was. A junkie too gone to be saved, heroin was her life. But Max wanted to be her knight in shining armour," David paused and the rest of us laughed as we pictured Max as a knight of any kind. Leave it to our head vampire to have some twisted hero complex. Although it didn't surprise me considering the fact that he apparently saw himself as our _father_.

"By now he was pretty desperate. Apparently we boys needed a mother," David stopped suddenly and looked down at the wristwatch on his arm that he rarely used.

"I'll have to cut this short, we're supposed to meet Star soon," he grumbled and we all nodded in understanding.

"So as you can probably guess that all went to shit. More so than the others actually but that'll have to be told some other time. At the same time we found Paulie-boy here and he became one of us," David smirked as Paul whooped loudly and the rest of us chuckled at his silliness.

"But it should be obvious by now that Max's poor attempts to find himself a mate and us a mother to complete his twisted version of a family never works out the way he plans. It's an odd coincidence actually that every time his plan fails we find a new brother," David chuckled but then his face turned grim.

"But here's the key point. Every time he messes up, we have to clean up the mess. He hasn't killed any of his –," he seemed to struggle to find the right word;

"–conquests since my mother and he barely tried to cover up his tracks the last two times. So we're the ones that have to clean up the mess. This happens from time to time and it's getting tiring. Because he's getting sloppier and more desperate every time he fails. And the clean-ups are getting messier. This often means we have to move," he stopped and looked at all of us.

"And that is not all. He often makes up these schemes that always involve us. This time is no different, like I said he has given us a mission. He wants us to befriend the kids," his eyes locked with mine. I saw a vivid picture of a middle aged woman with strawberry blond hair and a kind smile in my head. Why did she look so familiar?

"She knows you Bay," David stated quietly. Then it could only be one person, I thought.

"My Aunt Lucy?" I questioned quietly. David nodded, Dwayne growled and Marko looked pretty bored. I didn't really know what to think of that, on one hand she was family but I didn't remember her and to be honest I didn't think of her as family. The boys were my family and she was someone from a distant past.

"He wants us to befriend her kids, a way to get to her," David spoke again with a hint of boredom and reluctance in his voice. I tried in vain to remember my cousins; I knew they were two boys but nothing more. This feeling of dread started to build in the pit of my stomach as I struggled to remember. I looked up at David, the confusion probably evident in my eyes.

"I don't like this David," I said and looked around me; the boys all had various expressions of unease on their faces. Paul put his arm around me and squeezed, I offered him a small smile.

"Neither do we," the blond replied with a grim smile on his face.

"But look at it this way, we get to play with some mortals," Marko spoke up, the worry and unease still shone in his eyes but a dangerously wicked smirk now played on his lips. One by one we started smirking, all of us thinking of the fun we could have messing with yet another pair of mortals. Silently we all agreed to try and figure something out when it came to Max's plans but for now we would just have some fun. Let the games begin.


	3. That was a Crazy Game of Poker

**An:** I'm sorry. I just haven't had time to write. Along with major writers block. But here is a pretty shitty and useless chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Savvy?

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**That Was a Crazy Game of Poker**

_My twenty thrown down in my fist of rage  
And the man to my left just folded down  
Johnny doubled up with a Royal Flush  
I had three jacks and a pair of nines  
My mind is turning just two shots more  
There's not much left to play  
Then dude walks in Black hat on top, what a mop  
I'm lucky it wasn't a county cop, cause I'm just running out of time_

_Who's up for game two, what to do?  
My wallets getting thin and I just lost my watch last night  
I got a problem, just one answer got to throw it all down  
And kiss it goodbye_

_That was a crazy game of poker  
I lost it all  
But someday I'll be back again  
And I'm never to fall  
Never to fall_

_O.A.R._

A week after the boys and I had our "meeting", Jack came calling. He told me that my Aunt Lucy wanted to have me over for dinner. I agreed because; One, then the risk of running into any of my estranged relatives would be eliminated and Two; I could study the pawns in our new game up close.

Yes, we had all been very reluctant to help Max but somewhere along the way it turned into a challenge, a game, something new for us to do and have fun with.

**~o~o~o~**

"Babe, do you really have to go?" Paul whined as we were walking along the boardwalk, Marko snickered next to him and I rolled my eyes. This had been going on since I announced that I was going to join the newcomers for dinner.

"I mean, brown-eyes, you don't even remember them!"

"But they remember me Paul, so it would be weird if I didn't go. And besides David thinks this is a good idea for checking out our new game pawns," I said with a grin.

"She's right Paulie," Marko announced with his trademark smirk plastered on his face. I shot him a grateful look and Paul sighed.

"Want me to drive you there?" he asked, apparently defeated. I gave him a nod, a smile and a peck on the cheek, after that he was all smiles again. We went to the bikes where David and Dwayne stood; they wished me luck with amused looks on their faces. They all knew that I wasn't really excited at all to see my relatives, I only agreed to this ridiculous dinner because I had to. We took off and I whooped at the speed Paul drove in, soon I would meet my relatives whether I wanted to or not.

**Michael.**

I looked at the tall, blond boy that was hugging my mom curiously. I knew that he was my cousin Jack, but I honestly didn't know that much about him. Of course I had met him last year on the funeral of his parents but we had never been close.

"How's it going, Mike?" a cheerful voice interrupted my thoughts and my eyes found my cousins. I grinned slightly and shook his hand.

"Where's Bailey?" mom asked with a smile, she had missed her sisters kids, I think. But she had a point, where was Bailey? I thought they would've come here together. My thoughts travelled to a girl I had seen a couple of nights ago. I was following a beautiful, dark haired girl that eventually led me to a gang of bikers, why she had jumped on that peroxide blonds bike was beyond me though. With those bikers a blond girl had been, she had reminded me of my cousin but she didn't show any signs of recognizing me so it couldn't have been her. And besides, my cousin would never hang with bikers; I mean she reminded me of a slightly older and girl version of Sam. Or, that's what she was like the last time I saw her, before the funeral.

"Her man's probably bringing her here," Jack said with a shake of his head and a grin. Her man? My thoughts went back to the girl on the bike, that couldn't have been her, could it? Suddenly the roar of a motorcycle echoed through the house.

"And that would be them," Jack said with another grin. The Emerson's gathered around the window and looked outside. A bike, a lot more advanced than mine came to a screeching halt at the end of the driveway, its driver whooping loudly. I watched the long haired boy laugh and I recognized him as one of the bikers from before but my eyes were drawn to the person behind him. A girl, just as blond as the boy in front of her, gracefully dismounted the bike with a well practised ease. It was her, I could barely believe my eyes, the girl was my cousin? She looked nothing like I remembered her. I watched as she turned towards the house but the biker grabbed her wrist and pulled her back towards him. I averted my eyes quickly and my cheeks burned as I watched him plant his lips on hers. When I looked back they still stood close together but were no longer swapping spit, they talked and the boy let out a howling laugh before he took off in a dangerous speed. The girl turned around again and for a moment she stood still just looking at the house, assumingly deep in thought. There was something eerie about the picture she made, standing there, completely still in the moonlight. Suddenly all her limbs were set in motion and she gracefully walked towards the porch. I watched as grandpa threw the door open and exclaimed;

"Bailey, it's been too long! You have to come around more often." A chilling laugh could be heard from the doorway, it made goose bumps erupt on my arms. A soft, smooth voice spoke;

"I'm sorry grandpa, I've been busy." The girl that stepped through the door was nothing like the Bailey Grayson I remembered. Pictures of a small strait haired girl wearing colourful dresses and with a personality matching Sammy's flashed before my eyes. The girl that stood in front of me, hugging my mother was her total opposite. She was donned in a pair of tight ripped jeans, a shirt that showed off her midriff, a leather jacket and heavy biker boots. Her formerly neat hair looked close to a rats nest and there was something in her brown eyes that I couldn't place, she was paler as well…strangely pale for living in Santa Carla. I watched, observed as she turned to mom with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Oh Bailey, how you've grown," mom gushed as she looked the girl over. She just smiled back tightly and strangely enough no recognition could be seen on her face. She turned toward Sam and ruffled his hair but I, once again, noticed her strangely empty eyes. My thoughts were broken when she turned towards me, the smile on her face seemed sincere enough but there was something off about her.

"Hello Michael, it's been too long," her smooth voice shocked me again.

"It has," I managed to stutter out, much to her apparent amusement. Mom announced that now that everyone was here we could eat, as we made our way into the dining-room I couldn't help but wonder; what had happened to the girl I remembered? And who was this new version of Bailey?

**Bailey.**

Michael didn't like me, or at least he didn't understand me. That much was apparent during that dreadful dinner. I was used to spending time with the boys and being around my equals, a night with mortals always ended with them being dead. But here I sat listening to my Aunt Lucy's endless, cheerful chatter about everything. It was apparent that she had missed having another female companion to talk to, who could blame her? The young master Sam seemed interested in comic books, MTV and had a strange fashion sense, "the latest"; he informed me when he caught me staring at his pullover. He seemed so much younger than 15, was I like that when I was 15? I couldn't remember. More then once, I would catch him staring at me out of the corner of my eye and he was not the only one staring. His brother, Michael, was darker that his brother in much more ways than hair colour. He seemed over all broodier, but not the same way Dwayne was broody, he was quieter and seemed observant. But I knew he didn't understand me at all, but the problem was he knew something wasn't right with me. That could make things difficult. As soon as our plates were empty I mentally told Paul to pick me up, I couldn't stay here much longer. I hadn't learned much about the people that were soon going to be involved in a deadly game, not that they knew that yet, but I hoped that it would be enough. I followed my aunt into the living room where everyone had emigrated at some point. I plastered on a smile when I felt Paul and Marko, apparently he had decided to join his friend, approaching.

"Aunt Lucy this has been," I paused, only a millisecond as I searched for the right word.

"–_fun_. But I must leave, I have," another pause.

"–important matters to attend to," the tone of my voice gave nothing away but regret that I was leaving, but I feared that my eyes gave away my slight discomfort of the whole situation. The pitiful expression my aunts face adapted as soon as the words left my mouth made me want to grimace.

"Oh, so soon. But you don't have a ride," as soon as she uttered the last word the roars of motorcycles echoed through the cabin. I had to restrain myself from smirking at their chocked facial expressions.

"Actually I do. I knew my friends would get impatient soon enough," I laughed slightly and motioned for the window with my hand. Outside Paul and Marko were revving their engines and howling in laughter. The confusion in my mortal relatives eyes were amusing, they couldn't understand how my friends managed to show up at the right time. I bid my farewells and made my way outside, well aware of the eyes boring into my back. When I climbed onto Paul's bike I turned and smirked, watching the Emerson's standing there surrounded by the glow of the light from inside. They were confused, or at least Sam and Lucy were, Michael on the other hand looked thoughtful, suspicious. A shiver ran down my spine and even if I now had inside information on the pawns of our game I wasn't so certain that the game was going to play out as easily as Max said it would.


End file.
